ME3 multiplayer is a truly great game. Many people (including me) love it, and still play it obssessively. Anyone who regularly plays pugs knows that, even now after 3 years, there's a good number of people just starting to play. By any measure I can think of, it was a resounding success.
So it matters more than a little to me and many others that this success is repeated in MEA mp. Presumably it also matters to Bioware and EA that it is at least as successful as ME3. How can that best be ensured?
Bioware, along with many other developers, appear to enjoy the slow tease approach to new games. This is understandable: there's a vast amount of work and time that goes into making a game, and developers need to be free to make changes, switch things about, and generally...develop, without feeling pressured by undue fan or industry attention to their every move. It's also fun to build up to a glorious reveal of the new game when, and only when, they're ready; it adds to the mystery and wonder. In short, Bioware must be allowed to write their story and characters as they want to, and in their own time.
Multiplayer, however, is slightly different, because player feedback is much more useful. For example: X map works, but Y map does not; this cover mechanic is getting me sync killed; this weapon can be used in this way to break the game; this is too easy or too hard; this exploit has been found; this constant repetition of the same jaunty dialog line has become rather irritating after 100 hours; these enemies appear to be ignoring my powers; this character/weapon is unplayable off host; and so on and on.
The other way that mp is different is that mp players mostly don't care about spoilers and reveals. We're in it for the long run - we get our enjoyment out of improving at the game, not seeing new things for the first time. When we first see an enemy, our thoughts are likely to be: 'ok that's cool but how do I kill it quickly and move on to the next one?'
So collaboration between mp developers and players, at a relatively early stage, would be reasonably likely to ensure the game's success. They share precisely the same goal, and both can only benefit from sharing ideas as soon as possible.
I realise there are potential pitfalls in this approach, for example by pre-revealing sp details (enemy factions etc) through the mp gameplay. I also realise that beta testers play exactly the role I'm talking about in the normal game development process. So maybe I'm talking out of my ass.
But I do hope that before MEA mp is finalised, Bioware acknowledges that genuine player feedback is an important part of the process, and can help them make the game the success we all wish it to be. And if they want the best quality feedback, surely the best source would be those that have put hundreds or thousands of hours into its predecessor? After all, they are the experts.
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. I think I mixed you up with babypuncher. My apologies, I was working a 17 hr overnight shift so my brain probably wasn't working right
